R shrugged at her question. It radiated an attitude of "meh, I'll live". How he planned to continue without starving was another thing entirely. The one plus was it was unlikely he could kill anyone without his jaws, so. Yeah.

He could see this non-verbal communication thing wasn't working out as well as he hoped it would. It gave a new perspective to how it must've felt to be someone like Punchy, robbed of his voice, even more trapped with no outlet, no way to connect. Realizing he was starting to drift into that depressing rut, R pointed again at his mouth, shreds and all, then at Ellie, then back at himself, and then shook his head. Can't...eat. Safe. She'd probably already figured out he wasn't likely to jump her, but maybe it'd help if he reassured her.

R then shrugged again. He touched the shreds of flesh hanging down from his mouth, his hand moving to his still heart. Didn't hurt, see? He was good...except he could feel more than see the maggot that'd been camping in his jaw sliding out. Before he could stop it, it slithered out and plopped to the ground between them.

He stared at it, torn between feeling helpless and just downright embarrassed. Come on!